Tommy Tuberville’s (R-AL) decision to block the promotions of hundreds of senior military officers has come with few consequences for the first-term senator.
His Republican colleagues have until now largely supported his hold, placed in protest of a new Pentagon policy that pays for the travel expenses of service members seeking an abortion.
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Even as some Republicans grumble over the tactic, they are broadly aligned on the end goal: Tuberville’s demand that the Defense Department drop its “illegal” policy.
But as the stalemate comes to a head, with the holds now applying to nominees at the highest echelons of military service, Tuberville has tested that support with an unforced error — his reluctance to denounce white nationalists as racist.
The remark came amid something of a media offensive for Tuberville, who gave multiple interviews with CNN to defend his unilateral right to hold up the nominees.
Tuberville, in the face of widespread denunciations by members of his party, relented on Tuesday, telling reporters that he does, in fact, think white nationalism is racist.
But the incident came at an inopportune time for Tuberville. Republicans, worried that the blockade will soon affect military readiness, are anxious over the holds and have begun to say so publicly.
“I’m concerned. I think that they are allowing for an exposure of vulnerability from a national security perspective,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) told the Washington Examiner, “and wish he would figure out another way to make his point.”
Just as importantly, the holds are starting to apply to some of the highest-profile officers President Joe Biden can nominate.
As of Monday, the Marine Corps is without a confirmed leader for the first time in more than 100 years, and even the president’s pick for joint chiefs chairman, Gen. Charles Q. Brown, could get caught up in the blockade.
It’s not clear whether Tuberville will delay Brown’s nomination, yet the confluence of events has served to undermine his refusal to back down. Brown testified in his confirmation hearing Tuesday that the military will lose talent if the blockade continues.
Democrats have seized on these remarks and Tuberville’s views on white nationalism to pummel the senator as “reckless.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) gave yet another speech on Wednesday railing against him. He is joined by a growing number of Democrats who have unsuccessfully attempted to break the hold on the Senate floor.
Tuberville disputes the idea that his holds hurt the military’s readiness, telling reporters he never would have instituted the blockade if he thought it would.
He puts the onus on Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and even Schumer, who could still move the nominations one by one, a process that would eat up valuable floor time. The majority leader has so far declined to do so, saying it would set a precedent of so-called hostage-taking on otherwise uncontroversial nominees.
Instead, Schumer is calling on Senate Republicans to lean on Tuberville to end the blockade.
“It’s on the backs of his Republican colleagues to get Sen. Tuberville to back off,” he said. “It’s hurting our military security. It’s dangerous, unprecedented, and they have the power and the ability to stop him from doing it.”
For months, the Republican Party, caught between opposing abortion and supporting the military, comfortably skated by without addressing the matter. But senior lawmakers in recent weeks have worked to provide Tuberville with an off-ramp to the impasse, which is so far holding up the nominations of some 260 general and flag officers.
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, urged Tuberville to drop the hold in exchange for a vote on repealing the Pentagon policy in committee.
Yet Tuberville refused, insisting he will only relent if the Pentagon withdraws its abortion policy, which Republicans view as a violation of the Hyde Amendment’s ban on federal money for abortions. His other alternative, codifying the policy into law, has no chance of passing under a divided government.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has so far not pressured Tuberville to drop his opposition, even as he disagrees with it publicly.
But that could change the longer the dilemma drags out.
Tuberville attempted to put the white nationalism issue behind him, seeming to say he views the term as a pejorative applied to all conservatives. “I’m concerned that everybody’s calling us” racist, he told reporters Wednesday.
But Tuberville is faced with a daunting statistic — the number of holds could balloon to 650 by year’s end.
Wicker, while declining to provide further detail, expressed confidence the dilemma will ultimately be resolved. “It’ll get worked out,” he told the Washington Examiner.
“This will pass. This too shall pass,” he added.
But the stalemate seems just as intractable as ever.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), whose amendment to reverse the Pentagon’s abortion policy failed in committee last month, told the Washington Examiner she will push for the policy to get a vote on the Senate floor as an amendment to the annual defense bill.
“I’m going to continue bringing up my amendment to reverse the policy, and I hope senators will support that,” she said.
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Schumer declined to say on Tuesday whether he would allow a vote on her legislation, but Wicker sees it as one of the amendments that gets negotiated for a time agreement on the larger defense bill.
“I would expect that we’d need a vote on that,” he said.
